THIRTEEN security guards kidnapped from a major gold mine have been found dead after being kept hostage for a week.
The security staff disappeared in the mountains near Pataz, northern Peru, as bloody mining turf war grips the region.
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The group has been sent out to confront a group of illegal miners in the area, but were attacked and snatched.
Throughout the week, the gang sent threatening messages to the victims’ families.
The mining company that employed the workers, La Poderosa, said search-and-rescue teams recovered their remains on Sunday.
The company said on Sunday: “This morning, after intense search efforts, the police rescue team was able to recover the bodies of the 13 workers who were kidnapped […] by illegal miners in collusion with criminal element.”
It continued: “The spiral of uncontrolled violence in Pataz is occurring despite the declaration of a state of emergency and the presence of a large police contingent which, unfortunately, has not been able to halt the deterioration of security conditions in the area.”
Peru‘s interior ministry said organised crime investigators were probing the deaths, and vowed its agents were “fully empowered to use their firearms if the circumstances warrant it”.
In the city of Trujillo, west of Pataz, some of the victims’ relatives waited for the bodies of their loved ones to be transferred to the morgue there.
Abraham Dominguez, whose son Alexander was found dead, told channel Canal N: “We want justice, that this doesn’t just stop here.”
Peru declared a state of emergency last month after being plagued by a wave of violent crime – with the mining industry a particularly vicious battleground.
La Poderosa said 39 of its workers had been killed by criminal groups fighting for control of the mines around Pataz since it began operations there in the 1980s.
In December 2023, illegal miners attacked the same site with explosives, killing nine people and wounding at least 20.
A gang armed with explosives and other weapons burst into the mine, taking four people hostage.
Bodies recovered from outside the mine showed signs of burns resulting from the detonation of explosive devices.
The attackers raided the mine, “violently confronting internal security personnel from the company“, Peru’s interior ministry said at the time.
At least seven arrests were made and weapons seized following that attack.
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La Poderosa drafted in more security guards in response to the string of attacks.
Following the 2023 assault, Angela Grossheim, the head of the mining industry group SNMPE, said: “Formal mining is under attack.
“Illegal mining today is the country’s main illicit activity, even bigger than drug trafficking.”
Peru is a major gold and copper supplier for the world.
It has an unusual tolerance for illegal miners, which it allows to operation with some protections as they plan to legalize their operations.
Illegal mining boomed into a lucrative industry as the metals became more lucrative and new mining techniques emerged.
The Peruvian government has struggled to mount a response – and the turf wars are increasingly lawless.
